The Anniversary of When They Ran
by ForIHaveOvercomeTheWorld
Summary: The Doctor is acting strangely and Amy atempts to find out what is wrong. Unfortunately, she doesn't get very far before the Doctor takes her and her husband somewhere he used to go quite often. The home of one of his previous companions. No slash oneshot


**I decided to write a nice little Doctor Who oneshot to give my mind a small break from my Merlin story. This takes place sometime the the sixth season, but before anything with the flesh. I hope you all like and for my Merlin fans yes, i will come back to the 'Hidden' story. Now on to the oneshot.**

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><p>It had begun as an ordinary day in the Tardis; with the Doctor running around, tinkering, saying things so fast that you'd be lucky if you understood half of the words. But as the day went on Amy could tell that he was distracted. Sometimes when she would ask him a question or say something she knew he couldn't refuse remarking on; he would stay silent. He'd just stare at the Tardis console screen with a strange look on his face. A look that, if Amy didn't know better, she would say was pained. But the Doctor never showed his pain, so she must be mistaken.<p>

He'd been looking at the screen a lot lately, but usually for only a few seconds at a time. But today he could be found staring at it for minutes on end. But it didn't seem that he was really seeing anything, nothing that was truly there anyway.

Sometimes in his odd moments of blankness he would almost look like he was about to cry. And other times his face would have just a touch of a smile on it. But it wasn't any smile Amy had ever seen on the Doctor. It wasn't one of excitement; of a child with a new toy. It was the kind of smile a person would wear if they were remembering something really happy or funny.

But Amy knew that the Doctor didn't like remembering things. He rarely indulged himself in memories that contained emotions, because that would only bring him pain. So why was he remembering something both sad and happy today? Was today special? Or had the Doctor finally realized that it isn't healthy to keep things bottled up inside? Amy seriously doubted the last one.

So, determined to get to the bottom of whatever was causing the Doctor, _her_ Doctor, to act so weird, Amy went over to where her husband was reading some intergalactic comic book that she remembered the Doctor insisting he read. He was her husband after all, she had to start trusting him with her ideas and thoughts otherwise she might lose him. Again.

"Rory," she said, whispering slightly so that the Doctor, who was fiddling with something on the Tardis, couldn't hear.

The man she loved a whole lot more than her own life looked up from his comic and gave her a happy, but curious, smile. He obviously knew that tone. The one that meant he was going to get pulled into something that he would want to stay out of. Unless, of course, Amy went ahead with it then naturally he'd join her. As much as he hated some of the ideas that wormed their way into his wife's mind he had to admit that he'd rather be a part of them than left out. Besides, if nothing else the crazy notions could be a good form of entertainment.

"What…Amy?"

"Have you noticed anything wrong with the Doctor? He seems to be acting strangely."

Rory sighed. Of course it was about the Doctor.

Rory wasn't _really_ all that jealous of the Doctor anymore since Amy had chosen _him_, had married _him_. A fact that continues to feel like a dream because it is too good to be true. No, Amy had chosen him, and he knew that that meant he didn't have to worry about the Doctor stealing the woman he loves.

Still, every now-and-again it would be nice for something _not_ to be about the Doctor. But instead of thinking about everything that was wrong with his life Rory chose to start thinking about the question his wife had asked him. After all, one sure way to lose her is to not listen.

"No i-actually, yeah, I think I did notice something earlier. I asked him a question and he didn't respond. You're right; he has been acting a little funny." They both turned their heads to look at the man in question, a man who was currently staring at the Tardis ceiling.

"I knew it; I knew he was acting weird! Well, you know what that means, Rory?"

Rory sighed again, this time because he now _knew_ beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was something that he didn't want to get sucked into. And that, despite his wishes, he was going to get sucked in anyway.

"We're going to go stick our noses where they don't belong again, aren't we?" he asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Yep! Something is wrong with the Doctor and it's our job to figure out what that something is." And with that she started walking towards the Doctor with a single goal in mind; to poke a sleeping bear. Rory just hoped she didn't get her head bitten off; he rather liked that bit of her.

"Doctor," Amy said as came to stand next to him. The Timelord simply 'hmmed' in reply. "Doctor, is something wrong? You've been acting rather strangely today, well, stranger than normal anyway. Is there something we can do to hel—"

He cut her off, "Amy, Rory, what do you say we go for a short trip and then get some chips? How does that sound?" Without waiting for an answer the normally quite attentive man started pressing buttons, and cranking gears, and pulling levers. The time machine roared to life with a lot less of it usual wheezing than normal; as if it wanted to go wherever the Doctor was taking them.

As Amy and Rory found something to hold onto and clung on for dear life Amy said incredulously, "I can't believe it! He interrupted me!"

"I don't think he was even listening to you," Rory replied. And as he saw the nearly murderous look on her face he remembered his earlier thought that to ignore Amy Pond was to sign your own death warrant. That was a fate he wouldn't wish on anybody; for Amy could be pretty terrifying when she wanted to be.

Soon the Tardis came to a stop and the Doctor made for the door without even looking back at the people who were supposed to be his companions. But just as he reached the door he hesitated. Rory had expected Amy to demand an answer out of the Doctor as soon as the Tardis had landed, but as they both saw how unsure he looked he knew he had his answer as to why she hadn't.

They had seen the Doctor unsure about only two types of things. Whenever the universe was about to end, or whenever River Song was around. So they knew that whatever was outside those doors it had to be something just as problematic for the Doctor.

Slowly the nine hundred and seven-year-old-Timelord opened the doors and stepped through them with Amy and her husband following behind.

Out of all the things they had expected to see; whole legions of aliens who hated the Doctor, some world in danger that he was invariably about to save, a giant pyramid made out of chocolate, the last thing that they had thought they would see was an ordinary estate on planet Earth.

Amy looked at Rory and mouthed '_what?_'

They looked around and saw a sign that read "_Welcome to the Powell Estate."_ There were buildings and people everywhere, but nothing that could be seen as dangerous or life-threatening. And yet the Doctor was slowly approaching one of the buildings as if it was a formidable enemy that should be approached with caution. Amy hadn't been this confused since a man in a raggedy suit had crash-landed his blue box in her yard.

The Doctor stopped walking as he came to the middle of the square, he then promptly looked down. And as they shifted to see what he was looking at they could just, since the Doctor was at least thirty feet away, make out the two big, yellow words that had been written in chalk.

"_Bad Wolf,_ what does that mean?" Amy asked, and even though she hadn't really expected an answer she got one, though, not from Rory.

"It once meant many things, but in this case I believe it to be a symbol of what this place once was."

They both turned, shocked; to look at River Song, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. As usual.

"W-what do you mean? What was this place?" Amy asked, not even bothering to ask how or why she was here.

River gave a sad smile. "This was once the home of a girl. Actually this is the home of many people, but one girl in particular lived here; a very special girl."

"Who?" Amy asked without a trace of jealousy in her voice.

"Her name was Rose Tyler." River sounded almost reverent.

"Who was she?"

"She was and always will be a legend."

"What—how can a girl be a legend, what do you mean?" Amy was getting thoroughly confused by now as River continued to talk in her mind-bending riddles and the Doctor continued to stare at a building.

"The Doctor is a legend throughout the entire universe. I suppose you can say that Rose is a legend to all of us who are privileged enough to travel with him. I suppose she is what I've always thought of as the ultimate companion. Because she was the one who started it all, the one who healed the healer." Again there was that awed tone.

"She healed the Doctor?" Rory asked; speaking up for the first time since River Song had appeared.

"Yes, she did. Emotionally. According to the legend the Doctor was once a cold and bitter man. A man who was devoid of the happiness and love that we all are so used to. A man who had lost everything and everyone in the Time War and as a result was fading away. It is said that he was only a shell of who he is now. That no one in their right mind would want to be near him. He came, he stopped the bad guys, he saved the earth, but then he would leave. He respected humans as a whole, but didn't respect them as individual people. Rose changed that.

"She reminded him of his humanity, his mercy. She was the one who broke the ice and made the way for all the rest of us. Without her, the Doctor would be long since dead, not only physically, but emotionally as well. Sometimes I wish she were still here. He could still use her help.

"Rose Tyler is a legend for so many reasons; she is a legend because every single companion will eventually hear of her. But none of them will ever know, myself included, the full story. She is a mystery even more so than me, because while everyone will eventually know who I am, no one but the Doctor will know _exactly_ who she was.

"But the greatest reason for her legacy is in one simple fact. The fact that in the hundreds of years since the Doctor lost his family; she is the first person he found himself capable of loving.

"And now, every year on the day that he met her, the Doctor comes here; to the place where she lived, and remembers. And every year on this day those words appear, just on this day. Those words, 'Bad Wolf,' are her legacy. They are a reminder of the girl who stood up to the Big Bad Wolf and showed him how to love again. He comes here to remember the promise he once made to her, so very long ago. A promise that he would _never_ forget her.

"And so, though over time those words lost some of their meaning, they haven't lost any of their power."

No one said anything after that speech. It didn't feel like there was anything to say. They had been given a private look into the Doctor's past, and for once Amy didn't have a desire to know more. This was something she shouldn't pry into.

After a few more minutes the Doctor turned around and headed back towards them. He didn't look at all surprised when he saw the uninvited guest, but simply said, "We're going to get chips, River, do you want to join us?"

"Yes, I'd love to."

"Good." And as they all bundled into the Tardis the Doctor hesitated on the threshold. He looked out across the ordinary British apartment block he whispered one word,

"_Rose." _

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><p><strong>There it is, i hope you like it. Please review and tell how i did with the Doctor Who fandom. <strong>


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